Still, there’s a feeling that this season might be his last, as at 30, he’ll require more game-time than he’s been given this campaign.

His former club Gremio are interested, although their chairman Romildo Bolzan Junior hinted that Lucas’s wage demands make a potential transfer difficult.

“Lucas Leiva is a player who is in the fans’ imagination. He is a player that would be important to bring, we made an approach, but at the moment he is out of the possibilities,” Bolzan told UOL in his homeland.

“I’m not going to feed false expectations. It’s very difficult for Lucas Leiva to come to Grêmio, we made an approach and the conditions are very difficult.”

Rafa Benitez signed Lucas from Gremio in 2007 and he’s been with us now for almost ten years, meaning he’ll get a testimonial in the summer.

Lucas more than deserves this as he’s been a mighty loyal servant and is a fantastic guy, too.

We think he’ll have more than a part to play until the end of this season, as well.